Global stocks fell after Donald Trump said that “all countries” would be targeted by his reciprocal tariffs unveiled on April 2nd. Europe’s Stoxx 600 fell by 1.2% in early trading; the S&P 500 tumbled by 1%. Mr Trump also threatened tariffs of 25-50% on countries that buy Russian oil unless the Kremlin co-operates with his attempts to end the war in Ukraine.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s hard-right National Rally, was found guilty of misusing European Parliament funds. She was given a prison sentence of four years, two of them suspended and two under a form of house arrest. Judges barred her from office for five years, blocking her presidential bid in 2027. Ms Le Pen denies wrongdoing and said she would appeal against the decision.
Myanmar’s junta continued air strikes on rebel groups across the country, even as the UN and neighbouring countries called for a ceasefire to allow the delivery of aid to victims of Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake. The official death toll rose to more than 2,000 people—almost certainly a big underestimate. Rescuers continued to search for survivors even after the expiry on Monday morning of a critical 72-hour rescue window.
Rocket, one of America’s biggest mortgage lenders, will buy Mr Cooper, which services housing loans, for $9.4bn. The combined company will cover almost 10m mortgageholders, roughly one in six in America. Rocket is one of several non-bank lenders gaining a growing share of the country’s mortgage book. The housing market has sputtered as interest rates have risen sharply from pandemic-era lows.
France’s antitrust watchdog hit Apple with a €150m ($162m) fine. The country’s Competition Authority said that the implementation of Apple’s app tracking feature, which is meant to protect user privacy, had violated competition law. Last year the European Union fined the company €1.8bn for prioritising its own streaming app over those of competitors in its App Store.
The Israel Defence Forces ordered the evacuation of Rafah, a city in southern Gaza. Israel earlier this month ended its ceasefire with Hamas, and renewed its ground operation in Gaza. Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, said that “cracks” were appearing in Hamas’s negotiating position. On Saturday the militant group said it had agreed to a ceasefire proposal brought by Egyptian and Qatari mediators.
Elon Musk gave two Wisconsin voters $1m each after the state’s highest court refused to hear a case alleging that his payments to voters amount to bribery. The billionaire adviser to Mr Trump has been mobilising his cash to boost turnout in the state’s Supreme Court election on Tuesday. Thanks to him and other donors, the important election will be the most expensive judicial race in history.
Figure of the day: 18%, the decline in the budget for America’s Bureau of Labour Statistics in real terms over the past 15 years. Read the full story.
Donald Trump has begun his second term at a blistering pace. Keep up with his executive orders, legal challenges against them and what Americans think about it all on our presidential tracker.